Fire, Star, Iron, Book
by Anime Kat Reaper
Summary: When everyone in the Guild is acting strange, Levy and Lucy do the one thing they can; read about a hundred books in Lucy's apartment, and wait the weirdness out. Only when they return to the Guild, they find out why. It's Dragon Mating season? They're the only girls left in town? Natsu and Gajeel just got back from their mission? NaLu, GaLe, during and after the season is over!
1. Chapter 1

**_Hey there minna! This is my first ever Fairy Tail fanfic, and, of course, it's a NaLu one!_**

**_In my opinion, this idea hasn't been done enough, so I'm adding to the stockpile._**

**_Please enjoy!_**

**_...and for those who have read my other stories, do not worry, I am working on them! I'm posting this story now so that we all have something to read during the restart of the school year. _**

**_Shout out to all you fellow HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMEN!_**

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Chapter 1

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"Mira, what are you doing?" a certain blonde mage asked, leaning over the counter of the bar to which a white-haired lady was behind, busily going over a check list. She was doing it with such a serious atmosphere around here, that the blonde wouldn't have been surprised to see her in her Satan Soul form. Unfortunately, Mira did not seem to hear, as she was busy muttering under her breath and flipping through pages on the clip board she held.

Now that the blonde thought about it, there were several other people acting strange in the Guild: first, Wakaba and Macao were holding court with Grey, Elfman, Jet, Droy, Alzack, Fried, Bickslow, and most of the other male members of the Guild, looking deep in thought and relatively serious, which was a first.

Second, was the request board was empty. _Completely and totally __**empty**__!_ The blonde never thought she'd see the day that was possible.

Third, Master had yesterday forced Gajeel, Natsu, and Laxus to go on a mission together. The old short-giant had managed to scare Natsu and Gajeel out of talking back, but not his grandson. When Laxus refused to go, saying he was not going to babysit the other two Dragon Slayers, Makarov had pulled him aside and whispered something in his ear. Next thing anyone knew, the two others were being dragged out the door by the blond Dragon Slayer.

Fourth, was that the female population of the Guild was mysteriously absent. Cana wasn't at her usual spot at the bar, Evergreen wasn't trying to get Reedus to paint her, Laki wasn't making strange things out of wood, and even Lisanna wasn't helping Mira at the bar.

Quickly spotting the only other females in the building (a certain redhead at a table near the door eating cake, a blue haired bookworm and a young blue haired Dragon Slayer) she made her way over to the table to sit with them.

"Ne, do you guys know what's going on?" Lucy asked, looking at her three friends.

"Sa, but everyone is acting really weird," Levy commented, looking up from her book and staring at the crowd of boys who were now taking orders from Mira. It looked like they were her personal army or something…

Suddenly Erza looked up from her cake, saw the mini army, and broke out in a cold sweat. The three other girls looked very confused, but before they could ask, Carla hurriedly flew over to the table, holding something to her chest.

"Wendy!" the white Exceed shouted, landing in front of her partner. She held out the paper she had been clutching, and they could now see it was a calendar. "Look at this!"

"Nani, Carla – AH! Is it that time already!?" the little blue haired girl exclaimed, grabbing the calendar had looking at it like the key to her continued survival depended on it. "Lucy-san, Levy-san, Erza-san, gomen, but I really must be going!" and with that, the Sky Dragon Slayer was running out the door at full speed.

"I best go help them prepare Fairy Hills," the mighty Fairy Queen said, getting up, grabbing her cake and running after Wendy. Lucy and Levy sweatdropped.

"What was that about, Levy-chan?"

"Sa, but Lu-chan, can I crash at your place for a while?"

"Eh? Why do you want to stay at my place?"

"Well, the last time Erza said she was going to 'prepare Fairy Hill', it ended up with me getting caught in a bunch of traps, so…"

"In that case, sure…Oh! I almost forgot with everyone acting so weird; the bookstore got a new shipment of mystery novels!"

"Eh!? What are we doing here, Lu-chan!? Let's go before they run out!"

And with that, the only woman in the Guild was Mira, but she was too busy to notice anything. After all, it was _that_ time of year in a few days, and she did not want a repeat of last year, only with two more Dragon Slayers added to the mix.

Either this was going to end horribly with the whole town in ashes, or (as her match-making tendencies pointed out) very good for certain couples.

_**˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ SEVERAL DAYS LATER ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚**_

"I wonder if everyone is done acting strange at the Guild yet," Lucy asked, putting down the last book she and Levy had bought a few days ago. They had gotten so many books, it had taken several days to actually read them all. During that time, the girls had holed themselves up in Lucy's apartment and only left the pages of their stories for food, showers, and sleep.

They had not been to the Guild in all that time.

"Hm, since we've finished all the books, we should probably go and see how they're doing," Levy said, stretching out her arms. Leaving the apartment and walking to the Guild, they discussed what they thought about the books in a very animated conversation.

Nothing outwardly seemed different about the Guild building, but as soon as they stepped foot inside, they had several different magic circles pointed directly at them, as well as magical weapons.

"KKKKYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAA!" both the girls screamed, clutching the other for dear life, frightened tears flying out of their eyes.

"Oh, it's only you girls – WAIT! Why are you two at the Guild?" Grey asked, lowering his fist and stopping his magic.

"We came to see if you guys had finished acting strange; why did you almost attack us!?" Lucy yelled at the male mages, letting go of her friend. Yes, the whole crowd that was in front of was entirely of male persuasion, with the exception of Juvia, who popped out of nowhere just as the girls arrived.

"GREY-SAMA! Juvia will help you protect the Guild! Where are the intruders?" the water mage asked, looking around eagerly for people to drown.

"Oi, oi; you girls shouldn't be here right now," Wakaba said worriedly.

"Eh? Why not, Wakaba?" Levy asked as Jet and Droy shed tears over almost attacking the Solid Script mage.

"Natsu, Gajeel, and Laxus are about to come back from their mission,"

"Juvia does not understand why that is a bad thing; and where are all the other women?"

"Right now, we've entered the Dragon Mating Season; all the women in the town and Guild have been evacuated to Fairy Hill," the pipe-smoker explained, rubbing the back of his head.

The girls were just confused. You could see the question marks floating over their heads as the pondered aloud what they thought they meant by Dragon Mating Season (even though the title was pretty clear…=_=').

"It means that the male Dragon Slayers are going to go about looking for mates," Macao summed it up. The girls recoiled in shock. "At this time of year, male Dragon Slayers, to prepare to fight for a potential mate or to….uhm….**_*cough*_**….spend time with their already mate, they get a ridiculously strong hormone boost and their fighting strength, smell, eye sight, and reaction time are increased. Since none of our Dragon Slayers are dating anyone or married, they'll be falling into the first category. A Dragon can and will have only one mate in their life time, so they'll be after the females closest to them…and because they are all romantically challenged idiots, that means every woman in the Guild,"

Lucy and Levy's jaw hit the floor, while Juvia was gripping onto Grey in horror at the explanation.

"W-w-w-w-what are we going to do!?" the blonde celestial mage shouted.

"All the females in town are supposed to be waiting it out at Fairy Hill, with about fifty traps at each entrance and landmines surrounding the premises, so we can't even get you gals in for safety," Macao stated, pensively rubbing his chin. "Just stay behind us and we'll protect you when they–"

He was cut off with the huge Guild doors flew open, revealing the shadows of three male Dragon Slayers standing at the thresh hold.

"Girls, get behind us! Whatever you do, DO NOT GET CAUGHT BY THEM!" Macao shouted, the men getting in defensive position around the three. Juvia had hearts in her eyes at the sight of a shirtless Grey about to defend her.

"Hm? What are you guys doing?" Natsu asked, not noticing that something was very different in the Guild. The other two did though, and their eyes swept the room before landing on the girls in the back.

"Oi, flame brain, don't take another step forward!" Grey shouted, ready to freeze the three if needed.

"Grey, your clothes…." Lucy trailed off, and Juvia now had a fountain of blood coming out of her nose.

"Wha – AW! NOT AGAIN!" the Ice mage shouted, now noticing he was in his boxers only.

"What the hell, ice freak!? Is this the way you great someone who just got back from a mission!?" the fire mage spat, holding up a fist. He would have launched at his longtime rival if not that Laxus placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Natsu, take a look; what is different about the Guild?" the blond said, his eyes hidden by shadows.

"Hmm…Oh! Where are the girls?" the pink head said, swinging his head around wildly, trying to spot the Guild's female population. He eventually spotted three of them behind the other guys. His gaze narrowed on one of the three in particular. "OIIIIIIII~ Lucy! What are you doing over there?"

The blonde mage flinched, but didn't look away from Natsu. Levy was hiding behind her friend as she met Gajeel's focused stare head on.

"Why are you guys acting so strange, ne, Lu–" the fire mage was cut off as he felt like all the blood in his body was rushed through his veins. The colors in the room distorted for a second, then everything snapped into crystal clear focus. He could hear the blond stellar spirit mage's nervous heartbeat from the other side of the room, and now her scent was about the only thing he could smell. He focused his eyes in on her like a laser pointer.

Gajeel, having just had the same experience, glared down Jet and Droy, who were standing too close to Levy for his taste.

The sight of a shirtless Grey standing so close to the two girls was not very welcomed by them either.

Wakaba swore. "So it's started; don't let them through!"

"Lucy, Levy, Juvia, when they make a move, run to the train station and get on the next train to wherever the longest train ride possible is if you don't want to become mothers in the next few days," Macao stated, and the girls went pale and started shaking, nodding their heads. If one looked closely, you could see that they were also blushing. They gulped when they heard the Iron and the Fire Dragon Slayer give off feral growls, their eyes going completely red. They gave a smirk, having noticed the tint of red on the girls faces.

And then they were standing in front of Levy and Lucy (respectively), Gajeel hulling Levy over his shoulder, and Natsu picking up Lucy bridal style, before speeding out of the Guild Hall, amidst much high-pitched screams and curses from their kidnap-ies.

Wakaba's pipe promptly fell out of his mouth, and Laxus heaved a huge sigh at the younger two Dragon Slayers antics.

"Oi, oi; this didn't happen the last time!" Nab asked, having no understanding of what had just happened. The two Dragon Slayers had completely narrowed down their targets to a single person. Last time Natsu had been like this, he had been so horny that he had literally groped every woman he came across that was near his age and they had had to get Master to knock him out. They had assumed that Gajeel and him would do just that, but no, they had specifically chosen Levy and Lucy, getting their girl and ignoring the others.

"….you guys don't think they're going for the second option….right?" Reedus asked nervously, and everyone's faces drained of color. Laxus heaved another sigh at the doorway. When this happened last, he had attempted to kidnap Mira, but she had quickly subdued him with her magic. Then Freid and the Guild had worked to keep him out cold till the stupid thing was over.

"Someone contact Fairy Hills! Tell Mira the words fire, star, iron, and book and she'll know what you mean! Do it now!" Macao yelled, and Warren nodded, reaching out with his telepathy.

"_Hello, hello? Mirajane, are you there?_" he asked, feeling his mind connect to the female Guild members. The rest of the townswomen could not hear a thing, and simply waited for the wizard women to say something.

"_Yes, Warren; I'm here, what did you need?_" the blue-eyed bar tender asked, reaching him back.

"_Macao told me to say fire, star, iron, and book, and that you'd know what was going on with that…. Ah, Mira? Hello? Are you still able to hear me?_" unbeknownst to him, Mira had just let out one of the loudest squeals ever known to man, and it had rendered several people nearly deaf while the bartender fell to the floor with giant sparkling eyes, saying something about wedding plans, Godparent titles, and celebration parties….

"_It is questionable if we are ever going to be able to hear ever again, Warren,_" Lisanna replied for her sister, holding her ears tightly as she had been right next to white haired woman when she had let loose the bomb also known as her voice. Suddenly said woman sat upright again, making a few people nearby jump in alarm. They had thought that she was down for the count.

"_Did Natsu and Gajeel really just kidnap Lucy and Levy to take them to their lairs with the plans of making them the mother of their children!?_" she rapidly questioned the other mage, and the girls with her all blushed a very deep red color. Cana did a spit take from whatever was in the barrel she was drinking from, then started laughing hysterically. Evergreen was holding Wendy's ears, even though she could still hear perfectly fine what Mira had said….

"_Erm….yes? But they just suddenly grabbed them and ran, so the girls are sort of powerless right now and we need help saving them!_"

"_There is no need to fear; we will be on our way as soon as possible,_" Erza said, tapping a fist to her armored chest.

Mira sighed; true she did want the two couples to hook up as soon as possible, but the girls were probably not ready for _that_ yet, so she wouldn't protest…too much anyway. Besides, she couldn't leave yet either, as Laxus was back in town. Well, maybe she could, but right now she would rather watch what was going on because she could go to Laxus anytime she wanted. But that was not the most important thing right now.

So Mira stayed at Fairy Hills with the other townswomen, boding her friends farewell and informing her charges on what was going on.

Oh, and threatening Warren to keep her updated on the situation.

_**˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ WITH LUCY AND LEVY ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚**_

"NATSU! I'M TELLING YOU TO LET ME GO! LET ME GO OR I _WILL_ SUMMON LOKE AND TARAUS TO FIGHT YOU!" Lucy yelled up into the fire Dragon Slayers ear, but all she received was a growl for a response, and for him to tighten his grip on her.

Yes, Lucy did have some romantic feelings for the pink haired mage, starting when Mira and Cana had teamed up and told her that he had liked _her_ first, but that day hadn't ended up so well and she had ended up hiding her true feelings for him, even as they continued to grow. But there was no way she was going to go into a relationship like this, with him hardly speaking more than a few growls. And she was NOT ready to be a mom, as Macao had put it earlier.

"Fine, but you asked for it," she hissed, and the two keys in her hand started glowing. Before she could get very far in the summoning though, Natsu garbed the ones in her hands and the others at her waist, then chucked them over his shoulder, continuing to run along on his way as if nothing had happened in the first place she now had hysterical tears in her eyes as she watched the glowing keys on the ground behind her get smaller and smaller. "LOKE! TARAUS!"

As if hearing her from the realm of the spirits Leo (hey, we all no he listens in on Lucy), popped into existence in a puff of pink smoke. "My princess Lucy; your prince had arrived to slay this repulsive Dragon," the spirit claimed, shifting his glasses on his nose.

Natsu did not like what he said apparently, and gave a guttural snarl at the lion spirit. Five seconds later, Loke was down for the count in a crater on the ground, his sould coming out of his mouth. Oh yeah, she had forgotten Natsu was sort of super-charged right now.

Lucy cried sad tears as she realized her spirits were useless right now. She could only brainstorm a plan until they reached whatever destination the Fire Dragon Slayer had planned for them.

Meanwhile, Levy was having a difficult time as well trying to flee her Dragon Slayer.

"Solid Script: Hammer!" she summoned a hammer and whacked Gajeel on the head, but he just kept on running like nothing had happened in the first place. He didn't even seem to notice her struggle in her position over his shoulder so that she could attack him.

Sometimes it really sucked to be so small. She should try an attack that didn't require a lot of physical strength on her part.

"Solid Script: Lightning!" she fired at the Iron mages' head, only to get the same result as the last time. Sighing, she gave up and started planning on a way to escape and get back to her friends and the Guild. Much like Lucy, she did love her kidnapper, but did not want to start their relationship because he couldn't control his hormones!

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_**Please review for me!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Yosha! Second chapter is out! Thank you everyone who reviewed/followed/faved this story!**_

_**I don't know why, but this is the only story I've been able to get any ideas for recently...weird.**_

_**For those of you who have read other mating-season based stories, I have several scenes that are based off other stories. And for anyone wondering, this WILL NOT become M rated. I do not and never will right M rated material. Sorry for those of you who are disappointed by that, but that's just how I roll.**_

**_To Lilyannnalu an o_**_**, DOUBLE REFERENCES! YAY! **_

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CHAPTER 2

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"Who is going after whom?" Bisca asked, looking through her sniper lends-scope, tracking the two Dragon Slayers running through Magnolia.

"Cana, Lisanna and I shall go help Lucy; Laki, Evergreen and Wendy are going to help Levy," Erza ordered, shifting into her Flight Armor in preparation for speed. "What are their positions?"

"Natsu is heading to his house; he's almost there. Gajeel is heading south, south east. I'll hit them with a Tracker Shot so you can see their position," Bisca said, then popped off two quick shots. Where she had pointed out the two guys, there were now giant flashing beacons about fifty feet over their heads. And they were moving fast.

"Let's go ladies," Erza said looking over her shoulder at the others, then contacted Warren about the plan, telling him that the boys had better divide up their efforts to help them as well.

**_˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ WITH LUCY AND NATSU ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚_**

Natsu kicked open the door to his house, nearly taking it off its hinges in the process. Quickly, he dropped her on one of the two couches (instead of a bed, he used a hammock for sleep, but that wouldn't work for what he wanted /./), then re-shut the door and placed the couch – the one that wouldn't be used – in front of it to barricade the door. The table soon followed after.

Lucy gulped, feeling the atmosphere around the Slayer shift to the point where it made her blush. Slowly, he turned around to face her, and needless to say, the look he was giving her had her nearly in a puddle on the floor. It sent shiver down her spine, and made a warm feeling present in the middle of her chest.

He approached the couch, not breaking eye contact with her, and she felt her heart skip several beats. _Oh-God-oh-God-oh-God-__**oh-GOD!**_What the hell was she supposed to do now!? She had no way of escaping, her brainstorming session from earlier completely nullified by the Fire Mages' eyes in front of her.

He now stood only a foot away, but Lucy was too mesmerized by the redness of his usually hazel eyes to move. She did however notice his hand coming to rest on her cheek and his thumb tracing her lips. She closed her eyes, savoring the heat coming off his hands, unconsciously relaxing into it.

To the obviously testosterone-happy Dragon Slayer, he took that as if she was saying 'go ahead'. He brought his lips gently to hers at first, then what started innocent turned more desperate, neither one able to get enough.

Lucy's thoughts were muddled by a thick fog of lust…maybe she should just stop trying to fight it…yeah, this didn't seem so – _NO! SNAP OUT OF IT! HE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE'S DOING! BAD LUCY!_ Her thoughts cleared, and now she was able to see the full scope position she was in.

Her arms were pinned above her head by one of Natsu's hands while the other was starting to make its way under her shirt. He loomed over her form and used his size to keep her down against the couch, so any struggle she tried was in vain. She blushed a very deep shade of red.

She blushed even darker when the table and couch in front of the door were tossed away and standing there was Erza, Grey, Juvia, Cana, Lisanna, Bixlow, and Max the sand mage. (I put Max and Bixlow in there because I did not want Grey to be in all alone amongst the estrogen while trying to help Lucy and Levy; I have no desire for Juvia to kill me)

Taking note of what their eyes were seeing, the rescue team all turned redder than Erza's hair, with Juvia shielding Grey's eyes. Bixlow and his babies just started laughing.

Erza, the mighty Fairy Queen Titania (just like Oberon's queen in A Midsummer Night's Dream, who was also a redhead and probably where Mashima got the nickname) went wide-eyed and started shaking at the lovey-dovey sight before her. She crashed to her knees, then started bowing her head repeatedly on the ground. "Please excuse me for interrupting at such a moment! If it would make you feel better, you can punch me if you want…"

"Erma! Mow ma moant ma nime! Kum zaeve mehhhhh! (Erza! Now is not the time! Come save me-!)" Lucy tried to protest, but that was rather hard as Natsu was still kissing her. Said fire mage did not like that they were being interrupted, and growled at the intruders, moving Lucy possessively behind him, finally breaking the kiss.

"Oi Flame Brain! Let the girl go and we won't have to beat your ass!" Grey shouted, activating his magic making the air around his fist fog up.

"So the cheerleader is hooking up with the fire brat? He liiiiiikes her," Bixlow laughed, his toy minions copying his last sentence.

"So you finally made a move on her huh, Natsu?" Cana slurred and then laughed hysterically.

"It would seem you are no longer Juvia's love rival," Juvia said, a slight blush on her cheeks as she fidgeted nervously looking at Grey.

"Um, guys? Can we focus on rescuing Lucy please?" Lisanna sweatdropped, noticing half their rescue force was misguided in their actions. It helped to get them back on track when Natsu shot a ball of fire at them. Looking at the fire eater, he had steam coming out of his mouth and his were glowing red like they usually did when he was very angry in battle.

"Fine, we'll save the cheerleader," Bixlow said, removing his mask to be able to use his eye magic on Salamander later. Juvia let her hands turn into water, Cana brought out three glowing cards, Erza materialized two swords, and Lisanna used her take over magic.

Max gulped, but readied himself to fight. This might take a while though, if Natsu had anything to say about it….

_**˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ WITH LEVY AND GAJEEL ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚**_

"Laki! Stop making those weird sculptures and help us with this!" Evergreen shouted, trying to get everyone in position so that she could turn Gajeel to stone with her eyes. Currently the purple haired girl was just making a vaguely humanoid form out of her magic and not helping at all.

"A real MAN helps with the fight! A real MAN lets his fist guide him, not his hunger!" Elfman shouted, running after Gajeel as the Iron Dragon Slayer scaled the walls of the buildings near him and then ran along the roofline. Levy was still trying to loosen his grip around her, but it was like trying to pry an iron bar out of position with her bare hands…now that she thought about it, that was _exactly_ what she was doing. "And a real MAN doesn't kidnap a woman for romantic gain!"

Elfman was rewarded with a breath attack for that last statement.

Seems like Gajeel did not like being criticized on how he deals with his woman.

Levy and the others sweatdropped as Elfman fell to the ground, no longer able to help them in anyway. He did earn the title of being the second this season to be taken out by a Dragon Slayer in heat though, the first being Loke from earlier that day. Jet and Droy had soon followed, foolishly charging Gajeel and not adhering to the plan.

"Are you sure this will work?" Lily asked, Happy and Carla floating behind him. They were looking at the group of wizards getting their butts handed to them by one person with a handicap. Sad thing was that Gajeel was hardly using any magic to deal with them. _And_ Levy was also using her magic to attack him from point-blank. To the Exceed, it did not seem like the plan was working at all.

"Yeah; just wait for Wakaba to set the smoke screen…" Macao said, and just as he finished, Wakaba used his magic to create a cloud of pink smoke centered around the Iron Dragon Slayer, temporarily blinding him. Evergreen dove into the smoke, and landed in front of the iron mage, moving her glasses and staring into his eyes as Wendy used her magic to blow away the smoke and let Gajeel see again.

Looking into his eyes, Evergreen she could not move a muscle, for the simple matter that she saw death in those chilling blood red eyes. She could see all the instincts inside a wild beast to kill and hunt swirling within those irises, and she was glad that they finally froze over into stone so that she didn't have to look at them anymore.

Shakily, she moved to help them get Levy down, and that was when she noticed what Laki had been making earlier.

"It's rather disturbing how much that thing looks like me," Levy commented as they put the wooden fake Levy in the spot on Gajeel's shoulder that the real Levy had been in a few moments ago.

"Heh heh, that just shows how good I am with my magic," Laki boasted, shifting her glasses up her nose.

"But why do we need that thing in the first place?" Jet asked, recovering from the blow he had received.

"My spell won't last forever; that will slow him down when it wears off," the female mage huffed, displeased that Jet had dared challenge her authority. At least in her mind he did.

"Well whatever the reason is, how long will the spell last Evergreen-san?" Wendy asked, looking up at Gajeel's hulking frozen frame.

The older woman shrugged and shook her head, "I don't know, a few hours at most,"

"But don't they usually stay frozen for as long as you want them to be?" Nab asked, remembering the Magnolia Festival a while ago. All the girls had been frozen until Erza had gotten Ever to lift the spell.

"When a male Dragon Slayer is in heat, only their mate can look at them in the eyes and not feel scared," Wendy explained, a pink flush on her cheeks as she explained. "It's supposed to scare off other suitors for the female, and as a result, eye-based magic's don't work as well as they should. We're also somewhat lucky that Evergreen is a girl, because if a male were to use that sort of magic on a Dragon Slayer when he's like this, well…"

"Uh, Warren?" Wakaba asked out loud, hoping the telepathy mage would hear them. He may not have been the most educated mage in the world, but he could see where the young girls was going with this.

"_Yeah, Wakaba, what's up?_"

"_Bixlow went to rescue Lucy right?_"

"_Hai, he's helping them now,_"

"_Has he used his eye magic on Natsu yet?_"

"_No, but Erza was just listening in on our conversation is having him use it now,_"

"_Wa – ERZA! DON'T LET HIM USE THAT MAGIC!_"

"_Too late; he's using it already. What is the problem with him – oh…_" said the redhead re-quip mage as she was undoubtedly staring at whatever scene was before her eyes.

"_What 'oh', Erza? What just happened?_"

"_You guys were positioned to the southeast right? You should see in a second, now excuse me, but he just got a hell of a lot more aggressive,_" the female mage said, and with that she had left the conversation.

"How is the other team doing?" Levy asked, worried for her best friend if they hadn't been able to save her yet.

"According to Erza, Natsu just got more aggressive after Bixlow used his magic and that we should see in a second…"

"What does that mean 'we should see in a second'…?" Evergreen asked, impatient for a better answer. Unfortunately, no one could say what it was until a second later, when Happy, who was looking up at the sky, wondering about his partner, spotted a dark figure falling from the sky towards them.

"What is that?"

"A bird?"

"A FISH!?"

"No, you stupid he-cat; he said bird,"

"No, it's too big and it looks like a person…"

"Is that…BIXLOW!?"

"Q-quick! He isn't moving up there! We have to catch him somehow!"

"Calm down; I got it~!" Laki sang, and then used one of her weird spells to catch the unmoving form of Bixlow. His wooden babies were nowhere to be found, as well as his mask. He was foaming at the mouth, his clothes were burned in places, and his eyes were rolled back in his skull.

"What happened to him!?"Macao asked, disturbed by the sight in front of him.

"Wendy-chan, can you heal him?"

"Hai; it would also seem that he used his eye magic against Natsu-san, which is why he is currently like this,"

"Natsu did this? With just his eyes?"

"Erm...no, he used his magic. A male Dragon Slayer will take any direct eye contact as a challenge for their mate, so Natsu-san probably didn't hold anything back," the little mage informed them as she began to heal the Raijinshu member.

"So let me reiterate this...basically, right now Gajeel and Natsu are all high on their horomones, and any guy who looks directly at them or me and Lucy will be beaten within an inch of their life...?" Levy stated, paling and a blue tint coming to her face. All the guys gulped, and unconsciously took several steps away from the Solid Script mage.

"Oh, and since he didn't kill Bixlow-san, he will probably be here soon to try and finish the job," Wendy continued cheerfully, as though she didn't just predict the death of about half the Guild.

"EEH?!" all the males present shouted, breaking out in a cold sweat.

"Do you really think he's been able to beat Erza and the others?"

"Baka, even if that was the case, do you think he would leave Lucy alone just to come here?" Wakaba stated, only to be proven wrong as a giant ball of fire touchdown a few yards away from the congregation.

"NATSU! Did you really have to bring me with you!? Are you crazy!? Wait, forget what I just said, because I already know that you're insane! Now put me down!" screamed a certain blonde Celestial mage as she tried to free herself from a pink haired fire mages' grasp. She was in a position very similar to what Levy was in when Gajeel had taken her earlier...basically tossed over her Dragon Slayer's shoulder and carried around like a piece of baggage.

A second later, the team who had gone to pursue Natsu also landed, looking a bit worse for wear.

"I apologize; he managed to get through our defenses," Erza stated, the least injured in her Flame Empress Armor. She didn't even notice that she had landed on Elfman, who upon having regained consciousness, found an armored foot in his face.

"Don't worry about it; just follow our plan so that Evergreen can paralyze him," Macao stated, motioning to the others to begin.

"But when Bixlow tried that, Natsu went ape shit on him," Grey stated, not seeing what the difference would be.

"That's because of Bixlow was a guy; our resident fire idiot thought he was being challenged for Lucy,"

"I see; then let's start," Erza said, taking charge of the situation again. With the presence of the strongest team in Fairy Tail, subduing Natsu was much easier than Gajeel, mainly because Erza and Lisanna had managed to liberate Lucy (much to the blonde's euphoric relief) and then put him in a chock hold while Evergreen stared him down. And because he was much more enraged than Gajeel had been, his glare had managed to make the woman's eye magic less effective as a result.

So now, with two frozen Dragon Slayers in tow, the group of wizards made their way to the Guild, opting to tie them with magic rope to some chairs for when they defrost later.

This was going to be a long day.

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_**And done! Please review for me, minna~!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**School is kicking my ass hard right now...maybe it's the rotating schedule? Or maybe it's that I don't want to get up at six every morning? Well, whatever it is, it's not leaving me very much time to write anything. Aargh! I have to wait until September to join the art club! Not fair!**_

_**I should probably stop my ranting right now and let you guys read, huh?**_

_**Enjoy the story and be aware that updates may take awhile!**_

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CHAPTER 3

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"So what are we supposed to do now?" Lucy asked, leaning against the bar counter and watching as Erza and Grey tried to secure Gajeel and Natsu to two chairs. It wasn't as easy as it seemed, as both frozen Dragon Slayers could not be moved to fit the contours of the seat properly. The re-quip and ice mage duo settled for tying their limbs to the arms and legs of the chair and then blindfolding them.

"I might have a lacryma that can snap them out of this temporarily in storage…" Makarov said, sitting cross legged on the bar, deep in thought. He jumped off, then walked up the stairs to his office, where loud sounds could be heard as he rummaged through the stuff he had up there. He came down a few moments later, carrying two necklaces with glowing green stones secured. After they were placed on the frozen necks of the two Dragon Slayers, the whole Guild let out a sigh of relief.

"Hmm…I know there's something I'm forgetting to mention, but it probably isn't important," Makarov muttered to himself, but nobody seemed to notice.

"Lucy, Levy; you must be exhausted from all that running around," Mira pointed out, an angelic smile on her face as she returned behind the bar and started serving up alcoholic beverages. When she arrived was as much a mystery as where her Dragon Slayer right now was. "Why don't you head to the girls' private bath at Fairy Hills? It would be faster than going all the way to your house and back, Lucy, and we probably have some spare clothes for both of you around here somewhere,"

"Ah, that sounds nice, Mira-san," Levy chirped, clasping her hands against her cheek at the thought of washing away the stress of the day.

"If you have something for me to wear afterwards, than fine," Lucy replied after some deliberation. She had only noticed when Mira pointed it out that her clothes were soaked in sweat and dirt from running around and trying not to get caught. A bath and some new clothes sounded absolutely divine right now.

And while the two were in the open bath, they didn't notice Mira placing a spell on the spare clothes she had brought. Now her plan would be set into action soon, very soon….

_**˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ A FEW HOURS LATER WHEN THE GIRLS CAME BACK TO THE GUILD ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚**_

"What the heck took you two so long?" Grey asked, straddling the chair he was sitting on, his shirt once again nowhere to be found. He wondered why it always seemed to take girls more time to get ready when all their effort was wasted when the Guild broke into their usual fight. It honestly didn't seem like a good use of time to him, or any of the other guys in the Guild….except the very few male species here that knew a thing or two about girls.

"Well, excuse us for not wanting to reek of sweat and filth!" Lucy huffed, hands on her hips. She was wearing a pink tank top and black pleated mini skirt, her whip and keys on her hip like usual.

"Ma, Lu-chan, he's a guy, so he doesn't really understand the necessity that cleanliness is for girl," Levy explained, wearing a blue vest over a yellow bikini top and white nicker-shorts secured by a belt and an orange head band pushing back her bangs. Their clothes didn't seem to be any different from normal, so what had Mira done to them?

"Hey, Lucy, do you wanna join us in drawing on Natsu and Gajeel's face?" Happy amiably asked, hovering in front of the two girls, a marker in hand. Behind him, they could see Elfman, Jet, Droy, Nab, and Romeo busily scribbling over the frozen Dragon Slayers faces. They had taken off the pair's blindfolds so that they could draw fake glasses instead, and Lucy was surprised Erza hadn't charged over to scold them for messing up her perfect safety measures against the Dragon Slayers. Upon further inspection, the woman was in a corner of the Guild hall, eating a piece of her favorite cake, sparkles in the air around her.

"Happy, you do know that they're going to wake up soon, right?" Levy pointed out, and the cat paled, dropping the marker in his grip as he thought of the consequences of their actions. Calmly, he put the opened marker in a confused Lily's grip, whistling as he hovered near the girls' heads. The black Exceed looked at the marker, a question mark hovering over his head, wondering why the blue one had given it to him.

"Ohhhh, hand me a marker, Elfman; I'm gonna give flame brain a mustache!" Grey shouted, jumping up from his seat and making his way over to the mischievous bunch, a giant smirk on his face. Juvia was a giant puddle on the floor at the sight of her idol so full of confidence.

Their fun, however, was short lived when Natsu and Gajeel started defrosting. Slowly at first, then more noticeably, the gray rock covering the two faded, then burst, revealing live flesh and skin. The two blinked slowly in confusion, and when they tried to move…

_SNAP!_

The magic ropes that Erza had used to tie them activated, squeezing them and wrapping them in layer after layer of enchanted binds, muffled curses and shouts hidden by the mummy like covering of the two Dragon Slayers beings'. Their eyes darted around them, trying to figure out why this was suddenly happening, the green lacryma glowing around their throats.

During the Iron Dragon Slayers' struggle, the wooden Levy doll fell off Gajeel's shoulder, falling to the floor in a lifeless heap and scaring the crap out of the one who had previously been holding it. He thought his mate was dead on the floor in front of him or something.

Pantherlily also realized why Happy had given him the marker and promptly threw it as far away from himself as he could, hoping his partner hadn't noticed it.

Natsu was being squeezed so hard by the bindings that his eyes bulged from his sockets, and he couldn't breath for the pressure on his chest.

"Ma, ma; calm down you two and we'll explain why you're like this," Wakaba chuckled at how funny the two most powerful mages' in the Guild looked at that moment. He leaned forward, pulling the make-shift gags off their mouths.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, YOU SHITTY GUILDMATES!" the two bound men screamed, making many of said Guild members fall over at the volume. They were so angry that they didn't even notice the doodles all over their faces. Lily was relieved to see that he would be skinned alive by Gajeel today at least.

Gajeel used his body weight to jump his chair over to the fallen doll, something like panic written on his expression. "Shrimp! The hell happened!? Are you injured or something!?"

"Yesh, you two are loud…" Macao muttered, rubbing his head. He turned to look at the iron Mage, who was trying to gain the attention of a fake Solid Script mage. "Gajeel, calm down; thats a fake Levy doll Laki made. The real one is over there. What's the last thing you two remember?"

"I remember Evergreen looking at me, then blacking out…" Natsu stated, pondering his own answer.

"Same as Salamander; that green-girl looked at me then next thing I know, I'm tied to a fucking chair with magic ropes!" the Iron Mage shouted, struggling against his bonds. After finding out he had been worrying over a doll, he had chosen to focus on the one it had been fashioned after.

...

...

...

..

.

"…does that mean you guys remember what you were doing before that?" Lucy asked, not sure if she really wanted to know the answer. Her jaw was hanging slightly unhinged, and her and Levy's faces were blanched of color as they heard the males in front of them answer.

Gajeel, who upon noticing what was being said, had a blue tint come on his face as he stared at the two girls. He knew this was not going to end well if he responded, but the pink haired teen next to him, however, had no such presence of mind."Of course we do! What kind of question is that?" Natsu asked, clueless to the grave he was now digging himself into.

The girls' aura's changed immediately from oh-my-god-are-you-kidding-me shocked, to I'm-now-going-to-rip-your-eyes-out-of-your-freakin g-skull pissed. The crowd that had surrounded the couples took several cautionary steps back, but the two who most needed to run were unable to. Natsu and Gajeel gulped, sweating bullets while staring at the two women they loved the most, whose fearful presence seemed to make them grow.

"Care to explain yourselves, flame-brain and metal-head?" Levy asked, one of her eyebrows twitching, her mouth twisted into an un-amused grin, arms crossed over her chest, and her face shadowed over by her rage. Next to her, Lucy cracked her knuckles, the same look on her face.

The two boys didn't even bother with the fact that the short Solid Script mage had just insulted them. They were more worried about how they were going to live through this with their manhood in tact...much like the girls had been wondering how their maidenhood would be kept safe earlier. Oh, sweet irony.

Unfortunately for the girls, someone stepped up to defend the two guys in their time of need.

"Matte, Lucy, Levy; it is dishonorable to attack these two when they are unable to fight back in any form at all," Erza stated, clasping the two enraged girls on the shoulder, which snapped the two out of their shared plans on homicide. The redhead, feeling proud that she had stopped the now pouting girls, turned her head to the two boys. "You two should feel disgraced; all that marker on your face means you need more training,"

The two Dragon Slayers, hearing that they had ink all over their faces, swiveled their heads to look at the other, then burst out laughing.

"What the hell happened to your face, Salamander?!" Redfox crackled, laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes.

"The same to you, Rivet-face!? You look hilarious!" the fire mage snorted, also tearing at how hard he was laughing.

"The hell'd you call me, fire-breath!?"

"What'd you think, you metal eating retard!?"

"You lookin' for a fight!?"

"Bring it!"

But of course they couldn't move from their restraints, which made it very hard for them to do anything more effective than a head-butt...until they remembered they could use breath attacks. Natsu remembered first, when he spat some of his fire-spit in Gajeel's face, and then the Iron mage retaliated tenfold.

They continued that way for a while, the Guild members dodging stray attacks and the two Dragon Slayers exchanging insults. It would have seemed like any other day for them, if not for that the two responsible for the carnage were bound to their seats with glowing lacryma's around their necks, a wooden Levy was on the floor, and Mirajane was smirking deviously behind the bar counter as she counted down the seconds until her plan started functioning.

Lucy, being fed up with the pink haired mages actions, decided to get him out of the fight by pulling his ear. Hard. Levy used the sure fire method of thwacking Gajeel on the head with a very thick book to get him to stop being so juvenile. The two also put their very scary aura's back on for added effect, and the result was that both males now sat rigid in their forced seats, faces pale and sweating bullets, their eyes on the two women who could and would kill them in the next few moments for not obeying them.

"Now back to what we were talking about earlier...do you care to explain your action towards us this morning?" Lucy asked, a very scary smirk on her face. Natsu gulped, sensing he was about to get into a lot of trouble if he did something wrong.

"Erm...you're our chosen mates and when Mating season started, our instincts took us over...?" The rosette tried feebly, averting his eyes from the blonde in front of him, a slightly guilty look on his face.

"And when exactly did we become your mates, Natsu? I don't remember agreeing to do such a thing," _even though I don't really have a problem with it...but that's not the point here,_ Lucy thought to herself, mentally shaking her head.

"Urm...uhh...hmm..." the fire mage stumbled, clamming up in fear.

"What he means to say is, we did ask you, but we made sure that you were distracted enough to just agree with whatever we were saying, and presto, you are our mates," Gajeel said, figuring that there was no way in the blue hell these two were ever going to let this go, and being the smart Dragon Slayer he was, willingly parted with his share of the information.

His answer did have half the Guild's jaw's drop at how easily they had gotten around to asking the question. The two girls had petrified at the thought that they hadn't been paying attention to something and now they were practically married now because of it.

"Oi, now that we've answered your questions, can you untie us now?" Gajeel asked, once again straining at his bonds. As soon as it was complied, the two males grabbed their girls either around the waist (Natsu), or placed their elbow on her head (Gajeel), showing that they were taken by someone. Of course, this greatly embarrassed Levy and Lucy, and they inwardly sighed wondering if they could be anymore stressed out today.

_Three..._

_Two..._

_One..._

And of course that was when Mira's little surprise showed itself. Suddenly, Levy and Lucy's clothes started to glow, and then a second later, they were no longer wearing the clothes they had been in moments ago, but their mates' old clothes...meaning Lucy was in loose white pants that nearly fell off her waist, and the vest Natsu always wore, while Levy was practically swimming in Gajeels' shirt and was trying very hard not move around too much or else the pants she was wearing would fall off her.

Upon further notice, the girls realized that they were missing some clothing items in particular...their underwear. The blunette and the blonde screamed in unison. Loudly. Very loudly. So loudly that buildings near the Guild though that they were having an earthquake.

Now all the guys in the Guild were either out of commission from getting nosebleeds at the display, or from two Dragon Slayers beating the crud out of them for staring. The female population's jaws were touching the ground, and Bisca covering her daughter's eyes with her hat. Cana and Laki were laughing, Mira smirking, and Lisanna sweatdropping at her sister's face, guessing what had happened.

The guys' clothes didn't fit the girls enough to actually fit their busts (for different reasons) and the pants would fall to the floor unless held up, so the girls ended up hiding behind Natsu and Gajeel, who more than happily obliged in shielding them from view. They stood like two sentries guarding a priceless treasure.

"What the hell is this!? Why did our clothes suddenly...!?" Lucy shrieked, using one hand to try and close the vest she was wearing around her chest and the other to hold up her pants, face a bright red color.

"I don't know, Lu-chan!" Levy shouted back, equally hysterical and embarrassed. Then something clicked for the female duo: they were in their crushes clothes, and those crushes were currently going into heat. Coincidence much? I think not.

...or maybe it's all those mystery novels they read talking.

Que the modes swinging back to angry again.

"NATSU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY CLOTHES!?"

"GAJEEL! YOU HAVE TO THE COUNT OF THREE TO GIVE ME BACK MY CLOTHES!"

Now, as you can imagine, both Dragon Slayers were highly confused as to what the girls were talking about. Turning to look over their shoulder and finding their mate in their clothes and very pissed off at the same time did strange things to their brains. At their necks, the lacryma's glowing reached it's peak before sputtering out.

_Ah, I knew I forgot something..._ Makarov thought nervously._ That magic to cancel out their instincts was only temporary!_

Total silence reigned the Guild as they waited for the two males to do something. For the girls in the spotlight, it was an awkward moment as they saw Natsu and Gajeel's eyes return to that red shade from earlier, roaming over their bodies as though drinking in the image in front of them.

The girls blushed at the attention, and fidgeted nervously.

Then they were being carried out the door of the Guild again, exactly like they had been that morning.

Looks like Master Makarov needed more of those magic crystals, and fast...

* * *

_**Hmm...I actually typed half of this from an IPad since my school is going paperless.**_

_**Hope you enjoyed it and for everyone who also started school (specifically High School) last week, WE SURVIVED!**_

_**Please review for me~!**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Where Lucy and Levy really that OOC last time? Or was it Natsu and Gajeel you guys had a problem with? Maybe when Wendy was predicting Natsu coming after Bixslow?**_

_**I thought that they were actually pretty in-character, as Lucy has been known to have Erza-like anger flares when she gets annoyed enough, and I'm guessing that Levy would also snap at their behavior eventually, like she did when she got annoyed at Gajeel during the S-class exams and hit him into next week... Natsu and Gajeel themselves would have been rather scared of the two girls, and to keep themselves out of trouble, would have abandoned their stubbornness routine and just told the two whatever they wanted...**_

_**As for Wendy, yeah, that was a bit OOC, but the reaction she got when healing the Raijinshu member and answering the questions was funny. For all we know though, she could have been happy about just being able to help in that sort of situation and disregarded the mood in general.**_

_**Or so I thought, but it seems I might be wrong from some of your reactions. QAQ. **_

_**Sorry, but please remember, this is my first time writing these guys! I'll try and work on the OOCness, now I have to start making the back stories on when the Dragon Slayers asked the girls to be their mates, and somehow make it so they aren't being ruled by their hormones long enough to actually formally establish a mutual relationship with Lucy and Levy!**_

_**Oh, and I just realized that back in the first chapter when I said that there was fifty traps at each entrance of Fairy Hills, it also would have extended to windows...no wonder Levy kept getting blown up last time.**_

_**Enjoy the story!**_

* * *

"Okay...how many times are going to have to go through that?" Lucy asked, ten minutes after she had once again been liberated from a certain pink-haired fool. Now fully expecting what the two would try and do, they had been subdued within about five seconds, and now Levy and Fried were now hurriedly moving through book after book to see if they could make more of the instinct-repressing lacryma's.

The blue haired book worm and the blonde celestial mage had managed to get out of the male clothing, and were now in sweatpants and tee shirts that the other girls had managed to find on short notice.

Due to the fact that it was now impossible for the Dragon Slayers to go after anyone but their mates, the townswomen that had been in the women's dorm were now free to go back to their day, leaving the wizards to deal with the upstarts on their own. The majority of their Guildmates also went back to their joking and drinking ways, ignoring that they were technically still in a state of emergency.

Lucy sighed, remembering the words her landlady had told her as she returned to...wherever it was the woman went after she came to collect Lucy's rent money.

_"You're the reason that those hooligans aren't running amuck right now then?" the old lady asked, standing with her arms crossed over her bosom and firmly staring over her glasses at the young blonde that resided on her property._

_"Er, hai," Lucy straightened her spine, suddenly nervous. The short and portly woman in front of her with the animal fur around her neck had always been able to elect that sort of reaction from the blonde before she even knew what she was doing._

_"...I expect you two to keep the noise down to a minimum tonight," she stated, pushing her glasses over her eyes as she turned away from the now blushing blonde teen as she tried in vain to stutter a disagreement. By the smirks given by gossiping women around her though, she could guess that no matter what she said, they would not change their minds..._

Even now, Lucy thought she could see some of the ladies in the Guild still giving her knowing smiles, and whenever she saw it, it caused her to blush furiously.

"Until we have the lacryma finished," Erza said calmly as she oversaw the work to be done on securing Natsu and Gajeel...again. The redhead looked over to the group of men who had been drawing on the Dragon Slayer's faces last time, and she glared at them. "And this time, do not remove the blindfolds,"

"A-aye," they nodded quickly, hoping not to annoy the armored woman.

"What are you guys, Happy?" Lucy asked, sweatdropping at them.

"Oh yeah, something that's been bothering me," Erza took her glare off the boys, who heaved sighs of relief, and looked over to the bar at Lucy. "Why did your clothes suddenly change into Natsu's?"

"If I knew that then I wouldn't be here in something I'd go to bed in," the stellar spirit mage sighed, slouching her shoulders. Behind the bar, Lisanna glanced at her sister as she serenely polished glasses, not appearing to pay attention to the other girls' conversation.

"And that should do it...yosh!" Levy yelled over the normal clamor of the Guild, making her way over to her friends, a stack of papers in her hands and Fried was following closely behind her. "Lu-chan! Erza! Master! Fried and I found a way to make effect of the lacryma's more permanent!"

"That's great, Levy-chan! What do we need to do to make them?"

"We need more magic crystals to start with, so could you and Happy get them, Lu-chan?"

"Sure thing, Levy-chan. Come on Happy; the sooner we get those, the sooner we can untie Natsu from the ceiling." Lucy said to the blue cat nonchalantly, grabbing him by the tail as he hovered next to her, staring at the caterpillar-like bundles that were suspended from the ceiling beams, wiggling and twisting as the two Dragon Slayers tried to escape. Besides the blindfolds on their faces, their mouths were frozen by Grey's magic, so that there wouldn't be any repeats of their earlier performance when they had shot breath attacks at each other.

It was only after Lucy bribed the Exceed with a fish that he cheered up from seeing his partner tied up like that.

"Hmm...should I get Natsu the red one or the pink one? Oh! Gajeel would love the metal chain to hold the lacryma, but on second thought, he might eat it..." Lucy pondered as she moved from item to item, forgetting the severity of her mission. On her way to the magic supply shop, she had quickly dropped by her house to change clothes, and brought a dress that Levy had left from their previous read-a-thon. She figured the Solid Script mage would like to get out of barrowed sweats and into her own clothes as soon as possible.

"Lucy, get him the fish one!" Happy shouted to the blonde, holding up a pale blue fish-shaped crystal.

"Where on Earthland did you find that...?" she asked, noting the cats' very..._happy_ atmosphere as he pranced around proudly with his prized find. In the end, they didn't get the fish crystal (making Happy rather pouty for the rest of the day), but Lucy choose a burnished gold color lacryma for Natsu with a simple yet sturdy thread to secure it in place. She got the metal chain for Gajeel though, despite the fear he would eat it if he got hungry, with a gray lacryma.

"Does it really matter what the lacryma's look like, Lucy?" Happy asked, floating next to her as they returned to the Guild, Natsu's new necklace in a bag he was carrying.

"What are you talking about? Of course it does!" she insisted, and they continued that conversation until they reached the Guild again. "Here, Levy-chan; the lacryma's and something to hold them,"

"Wah! These look awesome, Lu-chan!" the blue haired girl exclaimed at the individual and distinctiveness of each necklace. The other girls of the Guild looked over shoulder, agreeing that the stellar spirit mage had done an excellent job.

"Thanks, but it was nothing. Oh, and I brought you a change of clothes you left at my house last time, Levy-chan. So did you get the other things you needed for the spell on the crystals?"

"Un, we just need to enchant them and give them to Natsu and Gajeel,"

"Really? Sorry I took so long then!"

Wakaba had multiple sweatdropps on the back of his head as he and the other guys focused on the grim task of lowering the subjects for the necklaces down from the ceiling. Their atmosphere was dark and gloomy compared to the girl's bubbly and cheerful aura.

"What is taking you guys so long?" Erza asked, noticing that the Dragon Slayers were not back on the ground yet. To her, this was unacceptable. Taking matters into her own hands, she equipped herself with a sword, then jumped over the crowd, slicing the rope that was keeping the two suspended in the air. With nothing to keep them up, they fell onto the guys that had been previously trying to lower. "Next time, do it yourselves,"

"A-aye ma'am,"

"So we just pour a bit of the potion on each...and that should do it. Now we just put them on and let the magic take effect," Levy explained as she and Lucy walked over to the two heaps of moving cloth on the floor. Really, the only way the two girls could tell the Dragon Slayers apart was by their skin tones. "It should start glowing when it's working."

Lucy nodded, and then placed the necklace around the tightly wrapped neck of her mate. Several seconds later, it glowed a subtle orange and Natsu stopped struggling through the restraints, making them retract. The pink haired teen promptly evaporated the ice off his mouth then looked at the blonde wizard in front of him.

Now that Natsu was free and lucid, Lucy had half a mind to drag him somewhere and beat the answers to her questions out of him. But before she could get one syllable out of her mouth, she was scooped up bride-style and walked out the doors of the Guild hall.

"Natsu! What are you doing!?" She asked flustered, cheek slightly pink.

"Hmm? Didn't you have like a ton of questions to ask me earlier?"

"Yes, but what does that have to do with you carrying me out of the Guild like this!? Put me down!"

"Nope; it's faster if I carry you cause then I can get to your house faster and answer what you want me to,"

"Still! There are people staring! Put me down!" She blushed and tried to shield her face from view. So many strangers giving her the same knowing smirk...it was nerve wreaking.

"No."

"Put. Me. Down."

"For someone who acts so smart, you sure do have a problem hearing,"

"Natsu..."

"We're already here anyway, silly," the pink head stated, jumping up to her window and entering the house that way.

"Why did we come through the window!? I do have the key to the front door you know!"

"But it's more fun coming through the window!" He smiled, and the blonde sweatdropped, finally being allowed to stand on her own again.

"So now you're going to answer my- WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING!?" Lucy screamed in frustration, watching as the Fire mage shamelessly raided her kitchen and ate whatever he felt like. Currently he was chugging the hot sauce she normally kept above the fridge (totally made that up just now, considering that Lucy probably doesn't own hit sauce in the first place).

"I'm eating?" Natsu replied with a face that said 'duh'.

"I thought you were going to tell me when I agreed to be your mate!" She yelled, crossing her arms and sitting on her bed.

"Oh, that? Don't fuss so much; I did it when you were tired after we go back from a mission and were busy working on your novel so you weren't listening to me." The pink haired Dragon Slayer said, going back to his bottle of hot sauce.

Lucy face palmed. She remembered that mission: after she had come back to her apartment, Natsu had been pestering her so much that when he finally asked a yes or no question, she had automatically said yes so that he would shut up. Oh how she wished she had been more observant now.

"But that's just one of the last steps for a Dragon when they mate," Natsu stated, looking at the ceiling and snapping Lucy out of her reprieve. "First we have to make sure that they'll accept us for us; apparently bizarre appetite an all," he said with a very annoyed face: eating fire wasn't weird in the slightest.

"Next is to establish a bond with them. You're my nakama, my friend, and my love, Lucy, so that was no problem," he continued, oblivious to the furiously blushing Stellar Spirit mage behind him. "After making a bond, we need to claim them, publicly let everyone know who they belong to."

"And when did you do that!? The Guild found out today that I'm your mate! When did you do something like that?"

"When Gajeel and I fought during the war with Phantom **(A/N: remember when they stripped during the fight? I'm putting that down to showing off for a potential mate, like some bird species do in the wild.)**. That iron-bastard, he was testing your resistance to his magic," Natsu said angrily, chugging the last of the hot sauce bottle.

"My...resistance to his magic?" Lucy asked confused, and hoping the salmon haired man in front of her would explain.

"A Dragon Slayer's mate has to have a certain amount of resistance to their magic so when they carry a child with the same destructive element, they won't be fatally injured." He explained, straight faced while the blonde woman blushed furiously.

Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose, knowing what she had to ask next. "And when the hell did you take it upon yourself to light me on fire...?"

"Hmm...during the S-class exams when we fought that Kain guy," Natsu answered honestly, staring at the girl in front of him, observing all the different facial expressions she was making. "But I'd tried to do it more times before, but you wouldn't let me," he whined childishly.

"So, Gajeel was testing his magic on me because he was thinking about claiming me as his mate back then?" Lucy asked, recalling the events of the Guild fight even though she was having a hard time believing the Iron Mage would do that. As for Natsu trying to light her on fire on multiple occasions...she was just going to ignore that for now. "I seriously never would have thought was interested in me,"

Natsu growled, not liking what as being implied in Lucy's words one bit. Possessively, he grabbed the blonde around the waist and into his lap, causing her to squeak in alarm at the unexpected action. "You aren't his mate and you never will be; you're mine and mine only, Lucy," he said huskily, bringing her lips to his in their first kiss where he wasn't controlled by his instincts...and it somehow turned into a full make-out session.

"So...am I forgiven, Lucy?" Natsu asked the girl in his arms as she looked at him in confusion.

"What do you need to be forgiven for, Natsu?" She questioned, smiling gently, finding his guilty expression very cute.

"Weren't you mad at me for making you my mate without permission?"

"Hmm..." Lucy said in mock seriousness, a devious plan forming in her mind. "I remember no such event; I agreed to it whole heartedly," and with that, she kissed a beaming Natsu on the lips again, only this time, she tugged at the magic lacryma around his neck.

In his inner world, Natsu had to chuckle to his self; she felt like playing with fire, did she? Who was he to not oblige to the desires of himself and his woman?

Without a second though, he ripped off the necklace, tossing it over his shoulder.

* * *

_****__****__**˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ WITH LEVY AND GAJEEL ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚**_  


* * *

At the same time as when Lucy was placing her lacryma on Natsu's neck (which was now MIA), Levy was doing the same to Gajeel. Much like the fire Mage, as soon as he was able to, he smashed the ice binding his mouth to pieces before proceeding to carry Levy out of the Guild against her will. And none of their Guild-mates tried to stop the two guys as they did so. In fact, they restrained Happy, Jet, and Droy from following, knowing what was likely going to happen as soon as the couples got somewhere private.

"Where are we going, Gajeel?" Levy sighed, giving up on her attempt of breaking free, knowing by now that she'd never be able to manage it. She hadn't seen Lucy since Natsu had carted her off, but she assumed her situation was much the same as her own right now.

"A place where we can talk, Shrimp," came his gruff reply as he continued walking, readjusting his hold on her.

"You know that I can walk on my own right?"

"And risk you running away? I ain't an idiot," He scoffed, walking a bit faster than before.

His comment caused for a flash of hurt in Levy's chest. Did he really not trust her that much? If he was acting like this because she had tried to escape before, that was because she was afraid _he_ was going to do something that _he_ would regret later if she didn't do something.

For the rest of the time when they walked, it was silent. The only thing to be heard by the two was Gajeel's foot steps, and the gossiping towns women who were staring at them. And just like Lucy, Levy's face turned a bright shade of pink and red. She attempted to hide herself behind the feather decorations he had on one of his shoulders.

Gajeel knew she was probably flustered by all the stares people were giving her, so he grinned to himself when she tried use the accessory on his shoulder to hide from view. Deciding to take advantage of the fact that (in his mind) she was depending on him to shield her from the eyes of others (which she was, in a way), he quickly and suddenly ducked into an alley way.

"G-Gajeel! What are you doing!?" Levy asked, startled at the sudden change of pace and direction, though she was glad to be out of view from the smug view of old women.

"I'm running, what else woman?"

"I can see that, but why are you running?" Levy managed to grunt, her stomach being dug out by the Iron Mage's shoulder which made it hard to breath let alone talk.

"Because it's making things more interesting," Gajeel replied, lowering the lurch in his gait to make it easier on the blue haired girl.

"Huh? Weren't you taking me to your place or something? But why are you running through all these alleys?"

For a moment, Gajeel couldn't think of anything to say for an answer. Curse having a smart mate; just when he got her start talking again, he doesn't know how to answer because he doesn't know it that well himself. He just felt like going this way.

Luckily, he reached the back door of his house before he was required to input his part of the conversation. Kicking open the door, he marched in and deposited the Solid Script Mage on a black leather couch before he sat on the concrete floor in front of her.

Looking around the new space she was in, Levy assumed this was where Gajeel lived. While the house itself wasn't very special, but the amount of metal work in the single room they were in attested to the type of person who lived there. From the metal book shelves (that weren't filled with books...which Levy would soon work on), metal coffee table, metal door, metal rug...that last one didn't make much sense, but it was there all the same.

"Is this where you live?" Levy wondered aloud, looking around and examining into the smaller details. There was an intricately made bed for Lily in the cat's own corner, a precious few picture frames around the room, and the Fairy Tail Guild emblem on the wall closest to the Guild.

"Well, I'm sure the owner won't be comin' around for a bit at least," the black haired man smiled crookedly.

Levy giggled softly, before examining the home owner with analytical eyes instead of the room. "When did you ask me, Gajeel?" She finally inquired, tilting her head slightly as Gajeel's already crooked smirk grew until it dominated his features.

"Remember that book I got ya outta the blue one day? It was while you were busy squealing over it," he cackled as a look of comprehension dawned on her face, then embarrassed irritation.

"I should have known it had strings attached..." Levy pouted, folding her arms over her chest. "Not that I really mind now though..." She added as almost an after thought, not noticing she had said it until Gajeel stopped laughing and gave her a Look. It wasn't a Look that said 'go jump in an acid puddle' or 'another step closer, and I will shove iron up your ass' look he sometimes gave people, but it was one that she had seen before.

When he wasn't wearing the lacryma amulet.

Suddenly, before Levy could react, Gajeel had swooped her into a passionate kiss, getting from the floor to nearly on top of her in a matter of milliseconds. Levy resisted at first, but then gave in kissed him back with equal passion.

Gajeel broke away for air first, leaving them both panting for the oxygen they had been deprived of for more than a minute of. He smirked "So you really do like me then, Levy?"

It did not go unnoticed by her that he used her actual name, and not one of the nicknames he normally assigned her. She blushed heavily.

But before they could kiss again, Gajeel's stomach growled, causing him to curse and blush. "Haven't had a thing to eat all day," he complained, and Levy giggled. As much as she was enjoying the look on his face, which she had _never_ seen before, she didn't want the moment to end yet.

Boldly reaching up, she tugged the amulet chain her best friend had been unsure of wither to get. She smiled coyly at the Iron Mage above her, before saying "How about you eat the metal chain around your neck, hmm? I'm sure we can find something else to secure the lacryma later..."

Gajeel grinned hugely, then ripped the necklace off and slurping the chain up like a piece of spaghetti. Casually tossing the now unsecured stone onto the table, his eyes regained the unique redness from earlier that day.

* * *

_****__****__**˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ BACK AT THE GUILD ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚ˣ˚**_

* * *

"Mira~!" A bipedal blue cat whined, hover above the head of a certain white haired bar tender, tears streaming from his eyes. "Why can't I go with Natsu!?"

"Happy, he and Lucy are probably...erm...busy at the moment and wouldn't want you to interrupt," the Take Over Mage tried to explain, soothing the feline says he wept into her chest.

"Is that why Lily didn't leave with Gajeel as well?"

"Errm...yes? So that's why the two of you are going to be staying over at Wendy's place for a few days, okay? I'll help you get a fish ready for Carla," Mira promised.

"YATTA! Lets get her the fish!"

* * *

**_And with that, I give to you the longest chapter yet. And yes, by that I do mean to imply that there will be more chapters to come. _**

**_For those of you that still have a problem with how I wrote these characters, then you do know I'm not exactly forcing you at knife point to read this right?_**

**_For those of you who had no problem with this, then please review for me like always! _**


	5. Chapter 5

_**So this chapter may or may not (haven't written that far yet as I'm writing this A/N) have some suggestive themes later on, but there will be no smut or lemon. As I said before, I don't write that stuff.**_

_**Warning to all male readers, the chapter begins with GIRL TALK, meaning you might feel a little unwelcome in their conversation.**_

_**And for anyone wondering, this chapter is pretty much **_**how _I'm going to get the pairings to establish a stronger love connection and make them more comfortable with showing public and private (get your heads _**out**_of the gutter) affection._**

**_So really, it's a big dating scene. If I didn't do this, it would be like saying Lucy and Levy are shallow and slutty for sleeping with someone that soon into their relationship._**

**_And just incase anyone is curious, yes, I have been woken up with water being poured on me. So I would know how to react._**

**_Thanks to all you readers who encouraged me that the story was fine how it was; but when somebody says they were having a _nightmare_ about your piece, that means they disliked it enough for it affect their subconscious thoughts. Which usually means that I suck at writing, they hate the way I write the characters, or they just hate the general plot._**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

* * *

"So...what happened _after_ they carried you, very romantic by the way, out of the Guild and no doubt brought you to their homes?" Mirajane questioned, cleaning out a beer mug from what she had refused to wash late yesterday evening, and let to soak in the sink behind the counter as usual.

Her comment caused Levy to choke on her breakfast, and Lucy to turn her head and spit her tea out, which happened to drench Elfman, who had been sitting right next to her.

"MAN that is extremely gross!" Shouted the Take-Over Mage before he was silenced by a sharp glare from his nosy older sister.

"Wha-what makes you think we did anything?" Levy asked, her coughing fit residing with a glass of water from Lisanna.

Lisanna smiled apologetically. "Firstly, it's because we saw you two sneak into the Guild blushing, and secondly, your denying it just proved our theory,"

"So spill it!" Mira came as close as she ever did to yelling in her excitement, slamming her hands against the bar counter instead of reaching for another mug to wipe down. "What happened? I want the details!"

"It's too early..." Cana complained as she entered their conversation, taking a large gulp of booze and the empty seat next to Levy. She turned to face the two girls, cheeks already flushed, then gave them a mischievous smirk. "...but not for gossip on you two,"

"Puh-lease," Evergreen said as she evicted Elfman off of his bar stool (much to his dismay, and only then to be quieted by another glare from his older sister), taking it for herself, and also effectively giving the two bookworms one option left for escape. But they were Fairy Tail women, damnit, and they would not be intimidated. "For all the work I did to keep them off of you in the beginning, you had _better_ tell us what happened!"

The scary gleam in Evergreen's eyes (that could turn people to stone) coupled with the fact that Cana was _innocently_ shuffling her deck of (magic) cards made Lucy and Levy reconsider turning tail.

"Exactly," stated Erza, her appearance behind the book and star blocking off their last possible escape route...unless they could fly-no, wait; Charla was hovering over them with a smug look on her feline face as she had probably guessed their level of desperation. "Now, if you two would be so kind, I'm particularly curious to what you and Natsu did, Lucy; I don't recall if he ever owned a bed,"

"Wha-wha-what do you m-mean, E-Erza?" Lucy trembled in her seat, any feeling of hope she had left dissolve as several pares of gleaming eyes and dark auras amplify and zeroed in on her.

"Hou? Are you trying to play coy with us, Lucy?" asked Mira, and Levy was not 100% sure if the white haired woman had or had not transformed her face to get a more ghoul-like appearance. "We're asking what you and Natsu did after he carried you out of the Guild, and as Erza so pointed out, he doesn't have a bed,"

Lucy muttered something under her breath, face aflame, but none of the other women besides Levy could hear what it was.

"Can you repeat that please, Lucy?" Cana requested, dramatically holding one hand cupped around her ear.

"...he took me to my place..." the blonde fidgeted, staring at the hands she was clutching her skirt with.

A brief silence ensued as each woman reflected on that. Cana broke it first, giving her usual fit of drunken laughter. Evergreen and Mira soon followed, giggling at how 'cute' that was of Natsu. Even Erza was attempting to fight off a smirk, but was unsuccessful and attempted to hide it in an armored hand.

Charla and Lisanna sighed at the juvenile behavior the others had. Plus, the method they had used to get that information out of the stellar spirit mage was underhanded and cliché.

"So," the white cat said as she lowered herself onto the bar right in front of Levy. "Did Gajeel take you to his house or your apartment?"

"...his house..." the blue haired girl replied, hunching her shoulders and blushing pink.

"Ya two daisies still ain't tellin' us wha'chu did after," Cana slurred, enjoying her friends/victims/Guildmates' embarrassment with her seventh large bottle of whisky.

Lucy had had enough of fainting-violet routine she was putting up, and decided to put the majority of her chagrin away for a later freak-out-and-die-of-embarrassment session with Levy. "We ended up on my bed, in a full make-out session. Natsu took off his necklace and things started progressing...until I think his hormones finally overloaded his brain and he passed out."

The disappointed look on their blond friends' face was enough for the other girls to smile sympathetically. Before they once again turned to Levy.

The blunette had the same disappointed look on her face and Lucy, so the others weren't very surprised by her next words. "It was the same thing; we were kissing, Gajeel ate his necklace chain and tossed the lacryma, and then he passed out from his hormones."

All the women present sighed. For Cana, her morning entertainment had just gone up in smoke, Evergreen felt like some of her efforts had been wasted, Erza thought that Natsu and Gajeel needed more training, Lisanna and Charla thought that was typical of the two dragon slayers, and Mirajane was plotting on how to get the girls ready for their _real_ night to remember.

"Are they still unconscious?" asked Erza, guessing that since the two girls were here and not...

"Yeeeeeeep," Lucy and Levy said at the same time. It was because the males were still unconscious that the girls could even get to the Guild.

"How about we go wake them up then?" suggested Mira, an idea forming.

"Why?"

"So that I can set you guys on the perfect dates!"

* * *

A bucket of cold ice-water was not how Natsu wanted to wake up. His ideal way would have been while holding his, _officially his_, new mate.

It was only when the freezing waters came down on him that he realized that Lucy was not next to him.

On his feet in a flash, he shook the water off of his face like a dog, then desperately searched the room for the blonde. What he found was Levy, Erza, and Mira (the one with the empty bucket in her hands) standing in front of him.

"What's going on!? Where's Lucy!?" the salmon haired mage yelled, not realizing he was only in his boxers. Or that he was lucid because the girls had put his enchanted necklace back on.

"Natsu, calm down; Lu-chan's not in any danger," the bookworm reasoned, briefly wondering if her mate was having the same reaction. The team that was sent over to Gajeel's place was Lucy, Cana and Juvia, because Eva had to go on a mission and Lisanna was watching the bar back at the Guild. The water woman had agreed to help them whole-heartedly because they were no longer 'love rivals.'

"Then where's Luce at?" Natsu demanded, starting to get anxious.

"You'll see her in a little bit if you cooperate," Mira said calmly, while next to her Erza lifted a sword so that the dragon slayer would know what was coming for him if he didn't listen to them.

Needless to say, Erza had to summon a few more swords before their task was complete.

* * *

Gajeel woke up to his whole body submerged in water that would of course answer to the name of 'Juvia.' It was a good thing for him that Juvia backed off as soon as he started struggling, or else he might have drowned.

The iron dragon slayer did not picture this as the best way to wake up in the morning; that would have been if the smell of metal-pancakes had wafted from the kitchen where Levy was-

"LEVY!" shouted Gajeel, now noticing that his mate wasn't next to him anymore. "Where are ya Shrimp!?"

"Gajeel, calm down," Lucy sighed, wondering if her dragon slayer was doing the same thing to the other team. "Levy-chan is safe. She's at my place with Mira and Erza waking up Natsu,"

"And why is she waking up _your_ mate?"

"Why am _I_ waking _you_ up then?" Lucy retorted "It's because if we tried to wake up our own mates, we wouldn't be able to go on the dates Mira-chan set us up for later!"

At this Gajeel raised an eyebrow. "She set us up on dates? Why the hell is she butting into our relationships?"

Lucy's answer to Gajeel was a terrifying glare. "You and Natsu both passed out, so Levy-chan and I were left with nothing; you guys may think of this as our sort of revenge. I already replaced the necklace chain you ate,"

She was right; the lacryma was sitting against his bare chest, and Gajeel gulped in fear as the presence of all three women suddenly grew. He did not speak out against them again until their job was complete and all that was left was for them to drag him to God-knows where.

* * *

While Erza and Mira escorted Natsu, and Juvia and Cana dealt with Gajeel, Lucy and Levy hurried home to quickly shower and change into something more appropriate for the date.

Lucy chose the little black-and-white dress she had worn when she thought (now knew) that Natsu liked and was going to confess to her...but it turned out he was just trying to dig up some of Makarov's pictures that may-or-may-not exist.

Levy wore something almost exactly opposite of Lucy, a knee-high free-flowing dress with black embroidery at the waist and collar.

Neither wore much jewelry or perfume as they had been advised not to Mira, and they wore shoes that were easy to slip out of. Neither really had a solid idea as to why they he to do this, but since Mira had dated Laxus for longer than either of them had dated their man, they trusted her advise.

Ten minutes after they left their homes, they arrived at the spot.

Wither Erza had bullied the guys into doing this or she and Mira did it themselves, the amount of effort put into the décor was astounding.

Due to the amount of shade created by the tree leaves, the white, grey, and red lights were highly visible and wound evenly around the trees along the path before the red and half the white lights veered to the right where Natsu (who was wearing a dark brown suit and slacks, his scarf draped over his shoulders and amazingly went well with the ensemble) was grinning over at Lucy, while the grey and remaining half of white lights turned to the left where Gajeel (a dark gray suit and black slacks) was waiting for Levy.

"Well," whispered Levy, excitement bubbling behind her sternum. "This is it, Lu-chan!"

"Un! We'll have to thank Mira and Erza later for this," Lucy squealed quietly, then both girls walked down their own isolated paths for a private meal with their mates.

* * *

"You look really nice, Luce," Natsu said as soon as Lucy came into hearing range. His grin was stretched widely across his face as he drank in the image of the blonde. He personally thought that the little sunlight coming through the trees and the red lights made her look _really _nice. He was also gallantly trying to keep his eyes off her chest and legs and on her face, like usual.

She blushed lightly at the comment but continued walking towards the table. As she drew closer, she noticed that the foods on the table were some of her favorites, while the others were what Natsu loved to eat.

The table ware wasn't fancy or especially high-quality, but that didn't bother wither of them; Lucy had seen that sort of stuff all her life, while Natsu didn't and never would care for that sort of thing.

Besides the lights, there were four small candles on the table, which Natsu was keeping his eye on for a snack.

"So how did you enjoy Mira's wake up call this morning?" Lucy innocently asked, and she had to stifle a giggle at the look on the firs mage's face.

"It was coooold," he shuddered then pouted at his mate. "How could leave before I'd woke up?"

"It was your fault for passing out when we were in the middle of something," she folded her arms across her chest and raised an eyebrow.

"But Lushi~" Natsu whined, trying for the puppy-dog approach. But all the other did was turn her head to the side and start munching on a strawberry shortcake that was plated near her.

Natsu continued with puppy look and was occasionally rewarded with a one-eyed glance by Lucy to see if he was still looking at her like that. Each time she opened an eye at him, he's scoot his chair closer around the table to her. This went on several times, until Natsu was close enough to snatch the cake plate out of her hand.

"Natsu! Give me that back!" Lucy demanded, pointing her fork at her date like a weapon she had trained in her whole life.

"Nope," the pink haired man said as he grabbed the fork effortlessly out of her hand. Jabbing it into the remainder of the sweet, he held out a hunk of sponge cake drenched in strawberry jam. "Open up,"

"Firstly, no; secondly, that piece of cake is too big for me." Lucy said, sounding not nearly as angry as before.

"Oh! Then I'll just cut it smaller!" Natsu laughed, moving to cut the cake into smaller pieces.

Only it didn't quite pan out how he thought it would. He thought that if he cut the pieces really small, then Lucy couldn't refuse it the next time he gave her a bite. But unfortunately, he cut the pieces too small, and because there was still a lot of jam left, the pieces of cake absorbed it and turned into mush.

Natsu sweatdropped at the tan and red gunk that was now on the plate he held. He scooped up some of it to examine closer to his face. How had that happened from cutting it too small? **(A/N: Natsu, I could give a detailed explanation on how that happened involving osmosis and hypotonic solutions, plus the ability cake has for absorbing other flavors, but you wouldn't get it, so Imma not gonna do it.)**

A gentle laugh brought him out of his thoughts and to the girl in front of him; Lucy was laughing.

"R-remind me...me to never...never let you into the...the kitchen!" She managed somewhere between laughing and breathing. Then much to Natsu's astonishment, she scooted her chair right next to his, and leaned over to eat the little bit of gunk he had on the fork.

She wasn't wearing perfume tonight was what Natsu noticed the most of their close proximity, and he liked it a lot. It let her natural smell reach his nose better than through those false smells. He wanted to smell more of it, but didn't want to scare Lucy off by acting like a lunatic. Instead he settled for letting Lucy have the fork again, and putting his now unoccupied hand around her slime waist.

She responded by leaning her head on his shoulder, and was about to take another bit of the ruined shortcake, when Natsu put down the plate and instead captured her lips with his.

* * *

"You can clean up real nice, Shrimp," Gajeel said, trying very hard not to stare at the amount of leg Levy was showing at the moment. It might not have been much compared to the usual amount showed on a daily basis by Lucy or Cana, but it was more than normal for the shy little bookworm.

"You don't look so shabby yourself, Metal-man," Levy said slyly, a bright blush against her cheeks contrasting to the cool lighting around them. It didn't go unnoticed by Gajeel wither that she had used a new nickname for him.

He gave his signature broad mischievous grin, then purposefully raised his voice. "And what are you still doing all the way over there!? Come closer already!"

Levy scowled, slightly confused; she was only standing six feet away from him, and the table took up half of it. Still, she obeyed his request out of curiosity if nothing more.

"Closer,"

Levy took another step forward, now confused as to why she was walking _past_ her seat.

"Come on Shrimp; _closer_,"

Now Levy was almost standing right next to him, and she was starting to get annoyed that she couldn't figure out Gajeel's goal in this. Then suddenly, the idea came to but before she could-

An arm as strong as an iron bar shot out and hooked out and around her waist, effectively-

"Gajeel! Why did you just drag me onto your lap!?" Levy yelped, blushing as the arm around her waist efficiently pinned her down against his lap and torso.

"A little shrimp like you woulnd't be able to reach the food from that seat, so," Gajeel explained in his own kind of logic. "You'll be sitting on my lap so that you can get to the meal."

"Gajeel, I'm not _that_ short, and I'd still be able to move my chair in to get closer, or use my arms and bring things closer," Levy protested, trying to turn around so that she could face him.

"Ever think _I_ might have just wanted to be closer to _you_ for a minute or two?" Gajeel replied with a question of his own, bringing his face near the sensitive part of Levy's neck, effectively making whatever Levy was about to say die in her throat and her face to flush more, if that was possible.

Since it didn't seem like she would be talking soon, Gajeel grabbed a fork and started eating some metal-shaving linguini, proud of himself for making his mate speechless. But when he was half done with the huge serving of metal pasta, she spoke again.

"S-still...if you just wanted some time with, me all you'd have to do is ask..." the blunette whispered, stopping her futile struggle against the physically larger mage and settled for looking him in the eyes instead.

With Gajeel's advanced hearing, he of course heard what she said, but was surprised enough that he bit through the fingers on his fork (which he had been trying not to do), and looked down at her with a serious look, and half of his meal still hanging from his mouth. Levy suddenly couldn't help it.

She burst out into uncontrollable fits of giggles.

Quickly realizing that she was laughing at _him_, Gajeel slurped the rest of his pasta up. He looked a bit embarrassed. "Why are you still laughing? I didn't look that ridiculous," _I at least hope not,_ he thought.

"B-but the look o-on y-your faaaaaaace!" Levy laughed, clutching her stomach. "An-and with th-the pasta!"

Suddenly, she was cut off by Gajeel doing the one thing he knew would get her to stop laughing at him; kissing her.

And Levy responded immediately.

* * *

**Back at the Guild**

* * *

"Miiiiiirrraaaaaa! You LIED!" cried Happy, hovering above the white haired woman who was currently being hugged from behind by Laxus as she washed dishes.

"And how did I lie to you, Happy?"

"You said that Natsu and Lucy would be back today and their NOT!" the feline wailed in distress, causing Laxus to wince slightly at the pitch.

"Happy, they have to come back eventually, right? You're their precious nakama and teammate, plus if it weren't for you picking out the jobs for them, Lucy wouldn't be able to pay her rent money," Mirajane soothed the flying cat, not wanting him to cry anymore.

"Really?"

"Yes, and Lucy hasn't paid her rent yet this month right? By the end of the week I'm sure that they'll include you,"

"YATTA! Natsu and Lucy are gonna go back to normal!" Happy yelled, his mood suddenly much better than it was a few minutes ago, flying over to Charla to see if she would pay any attention to him today.

"Humpf; the cat's delusional," Laxus concluded, gently rocking himself and Mira back and forth. "Their relationship from a week ago is completely different from how it is right now,"

"I think he meant 'normal' as in them not ignoring him as much as they're doing right now," she replied, relaxing into her mate's broad chest.

"Whatever, and it's only a matter of time before things are _really_ gonna change for them," the blond smirked, and hugged Mira protectively against him.

"I suppose you're right..."

* * *

**And that's it for this chapter, folks. Hope you're glad I brought Laxus back into the picture, and that you enjoyed the dating scenes.**

**Can someone guess what I was hinting at during Mira and Laxus's conversation? Somebody? Anybody? Anybody, please!?**

**You can tell me what you think it was in a review, or just leave me a normal review.**


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